


These are the Days of our Lives: Christmas

by hellostarlight20



Series: We Are Never Alone [15]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Series, UFOs, pregnant Rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-09 07:01:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8880460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellostarlight20/pseuds/hellostarlight20
Summary: It’s been nearly 2 years since Rose and the Doctor and their family defeated the Daleks. It’s Christmas again, but Rose isn’t sure she’s ready for it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to [ MrsBertucci](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsbertucci/pseuds/mrsbertucci) for the beta!

Rose stood before the closed doors of the TARDIS. Behind her the TARDIS’s Time Rotor slowly pulsed and cast the console room in its soft blue-green glow. On one side stood the Doctor, hand in hers; on the other Jenny held Aušra who most certainly did not want to be held.

She rested her hand on her belly, seven months pregnant now. Behind her the pile of Christmas presents waited for them to actually open the door.

 _“Rose?”_ The Doctor’s telepathic voice washed over her.

She tilted her head to the side but couldn’t quite manage to tear her gaze from the still-closed doors. “Yeah, I’m—I’m ready.”

Jenny snorted and shifted Aušra to her other hip. “Mum, it’s just Christmas dinner.”

Rose nodded. “Yeah. Yes.” She licked her lips. “Just Christmas dinner.” She nodded again. Her eyes went blurry, staring at the TARDIS doors, but she didn’t see the doors anyway. She saw her family. “Christmas dinner with everyone. _Everyone._ ”

“Gotta be better than last year, yeah?” Jenny asked and huffed, finally setting Aušra on the floor who promptly ran around the three of them. “With all that traveling back and forth between London and Cardiff. What a mess.” She paused. “But the food was great!”

Rose shuddered. Both at the memory of two Christmas appetizers, dinners, and desserts, and the forthcoming ‘festivities’ at Jackie’s new and much larger house. She hated last Christmas, it had neither the happiness she associated with the season nor the togetherness she wanted.

Last Christmas, Jackie hadn’t wanted Francine at her house to upset Martha, who was still recovering from losing her entire family in the other universe. Rose suspected that had been only part of the reason. No, the deeper reason remained that her mum was jealous over Rose bonding so deeply with Francine while Jackie was in that universe.

And last Christmas, Francine had reluctantly agreed to host Jackie and crew. To this day, Rose honestly didn’t know if it was to see that other Martha and make hopeful overtures, to rub Jackie’s face in her closeness with Rose, or for some other grouchy reason.

Because it couldn’t be a _nice_ reason.

Oh, no, not with the way Jackie and Francine had gone at each other. It was a miracle Jackie attended any counseling sessions with Francine. Rose had all but ordered her mum to do so, true, but still.

“I’m still not sure we didn’t cross over our timeline last year, hopping from place to place.” So it was a stalling tactic. So what?

“We didn’t.” The Doctor sounded suitably offended, as he had when she and Jenny teased him last year. _“And I know a good stall when I hear one.”_

She almost smiled. Almost. “Right then.” Rose nodded. “Suppose we should get going.”

She absolutely did not move.

Last Christmas still gave her nightmares. It hadn’t been one thing; a single blow up Rose might’ve been able to handle better. All the little things, the stupid comments and snipping. 

The _snipping_ Jackie had done about spending time with the Jones’s, specifically Francine, until Rose lost her temper and told her mum off. It hadn’t been any better at Francine’s and Rose had lost her temper there, too, and told Francine off for the same unnecessary _snipping_.

Their irritable, irrationality had hurt and angered her so much, Rose hadn’t seen either Jackie or Francine for months after—in either their timeline or hers. And she’d been certain to tell them why, though until this Christmas, doubted either listened to her reasons.

In fact, until they had both apologized, which Rose suspected had more to do with the Doctor and Jenny threatening them than any real acceptance of wrongdoing on their behalf, Rose was perfectly content not to tell either woman she was pregnant again. She really hadn’t wanted a repeat of that Christmas only this time with her unborn daughter caught in the middle.

They way both grandmothers vied for Jenny and Aušra’s attention was bad enough.

 _“What’s really wrong?”_ The Doctor tightened his fingers around hers, strengthening their telepathy.

 _“What if…what if this Christmas is even worse than last? With everyone together in Cardiff, even with Mum’s new place. What if—”_ Rose shuddered again— _“Mum and Francine barely get along. Even after the counseling sessions and promising me they’d do better.”_

 _“Maybe Jackie needs an even bigger place.”_ The Doctor paused and Rose sent him a metal prodding. She felt him shake his head but hadn’t the energy to wonder any more about what he was thinking. Not with this large of a family Christmas gathering staring at her from behind closed doors.

“Mum.” Jenny stepped in front of her and Rose blinked the world back into focus. “It’ll be fine. Grandma Francine and Grandma Jackie promised me they’d both be on their best behavior. I asked.” She tilted her head. “Twice.”

Rose snorted and offered her daughter a weak smile. Her hand gently rubbed her belly and soothed her sleeping unborn daughter. Or maybe herself. “All right. Let’s go face the family.”

And by family she meant literally everyone. In the nearly two years since Jackie, Tony, Mickey, and the other Martha jumped from the alternate world to this one, their family had not exactly shrunk. Sarah Jane and her son, Luke, traveled to Cardiff for the holidays, as well as Donna, Shaun, Wilf, and even Sylvia.

Martha and Jack convinced UNIT that being near the Doctor for Christmas was the best place to be for any (potential/probable) alien invasions. Alistair and Doris made a holiday out of it and stayed the week at a B&B in the Cardiff countryside.

Tish couldn’t get away without the whole country wondering why Prime Minister Jones spent Christmas in Cardiff. Considering the effort everyone went to, from the PM’s office to UNIT to the remnants of Torchwood 3, to keep the other universe’s survivors secret from their counterparts in this universe—and the press—no. That wouldn’t work.

Only Tish’s Security Service guards knew of her association with the Doctor, though Rose planned to quiz Tish about one guard in particular. Her friend spoke very highly, and very often, of Adrian Harewood.

So the Doctor promised to pick Tish up after her very public holiday fête and bring her to Jackie’s in time for dinner. Leo, Shonara, Keisha, and Leo Jr., as well as Clive and Francine, waited for them outside the doors, too.

Rose took a deep breath and stepped forward. The TARDIS opened the doors for her, wonderful ship that She was, and they stepped into the controlled chaos that was a family Christmas.

Aušra raced out of the TARDIS, ducking under Rose’s and the Doctor’s joined hands. Keisha jumped up from where she sat in front of the TARDIS doors and into Jenny’s arms, babbling faster than anything. Then she, Aušra, and Jenny disappeared into the mass of family.

Over the din of laughter, Leo Jr. crying, Donna’s strident voice ordering Shaun to do something, and Jack’s boisterous laugh, Rose heard Christmas music. More than that, she heard her family getting along and enjoying the holiday.

All the tension melted from her shoulders and back, and she grinned. Her hand loosened from the tight fist resting on her belly and every muscle in her body just…relaxed.

 _“Not so bad, eh?”_ the Doctor kissed her temple, his thumb running over the back of her knuckles, along her ring. _“No deaths, Jackie and Francine are keeping a respectable distance, and I don’t smell smoke coming from the kitchen.”_

Rose giggled and kissed his cheek. _“And no alien invasions, unless you count us.”_

The Doctor grinned at her, that wide goofy grin she loved. _“Let’s try and keep it that way. I want to enjoy Martha’s banana-banana bread. She promised.”_

Of course that wasn’t what happened. But then it wasn’t the Doctor’s fault the TARDIS ended up on the moon. Well, orbiting the moon. Tish was less than pleased. Even more so when they discovered it was 1971 and Apollo 15 orbited the moon as well.

Rose’s mobile rang. She didn’t need to see the screen to know it was the Doctor. Not only was everyone she knew here, but the annoyed buzzing in the back of her brain hurt. “What happened?”

“One little jump. Just one, Rose!” the Doctor sighed and in the background Rose heard Tish’s angry, ‘Does this happen often?’

She tried not to laugh. After all, the Doctor didn’t always have control over where the TARDIS took them. They’d all tried to explain that to the non-travelers amongst them, but no one ever really believed it.

Rose walked from the main rooms to the hallway and leaned against the wall. Closing her eyes, still grinning widely, she hummed contentedly. “What happened and how long will it take you to repair it?”

“Navigational short out. Ten…fifteen minutes?” He didn’t sound confident and Rose easily envisioned him tugging his ear. “Maybe twenty.”

“So help me, Doctor—” Tish threatened in the background.

Rose snorted in laughter. “Hurry up, then. The little one here is hungry!”

“I won’t be long, my hearts,” he murmured. “Promise.”

“I’ll see you soon.” Rose ended the call and returned to the party.

Martha and Jack waited for her. They looked ready to suit up and head out, actually, but Rose shook her head. The noise from the rest of the party dimmed slightly, as if everyone waited for her to announce the next calamity.

“They’re fine. Slight hardware problem.” Rose felt Jenny’s amused snort in the back of her mind and tried her best not to meet her eldest’s gaze. Her lips twitched nonetheless. “They’ll be back in no time.”

It was more like two hours, a jump from 1971 to 1969, from Apollo 15 to Apollo 12, and a place firmly in the UFO conspiracy handbook. But hey, they made it back in plenty of time for Christmas dinner.

“All in all,” Rose said as the Doctor exited the TARDIS behind Tish who greeted her family with hugs and laughter. “Not a bad Christmas. So you’ll be known as that dot on their fuzzy photos.” She shrugged and kissed him. “Not the worst I’ve seen.”

He glared at her, but it was ruined by his large grin. “It was supposed to be a simple hop from Cardiff to London and back again.” He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know what happened.”

“If you finally let me have my own TARDIS, we could’ve linked their systems and performed a diagnostic.” Jenny looked purposely from Rose to the Doctor and back again.

Aušra stayed with Keisha where the three of them had played a complicated board game from Xantiu Two involving stones, invading armies, and what looked like a combination of Go and Mancala.

“Well…” the Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. Rose sighed. He had so many tells it was obvious they hid something from Jenny.

“It was going to be your Christmas present,” Rose said before the Doctor babbled out some explanation that wasn’t really an explanation. “And,” she added with a look over her shoulder at their TARDIS, “possibly why the Old Girl had Her slight mishap. She’s been carrying her fully-grown offspring for a bit now, trying to hide Her from you.”

She met Jenny’s stunned gaze and grinned. Their bond froze for a moment then exploded into colorful happiness. Jenny jumped up and down and threw her arms around both she and the Doctor. Aušra and Keisha raced to where they stood.

“Can we take a trip on Jenny’s TARDIS?” Aušra demanded with Keisha echoing the enthusiastic question. “Now?”

“After dinner,” Rose promised. “Who else is hungry?”

The girls, all three of them, ran into the room to announce Jenny’s Christmas gift. Rose simply turned to the Doctor and kissed him softly.

“Happy Christmas, my Doctor.”

“Happy Christmas, my hearts.”

**Author's Note:**

> I was watching NASA's Unexplained Files and heard something about the Apollo missions. I forget what it was, and when I tried to look it up, found [this](http://www.inquisitr.com/1698431/ufo-spotted-in-apollo-15-nasa-moon-mission-photo-from-44-years-ago-apollo-12-also/) and thought it was too good not to include!


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